Machine for twisting drill-blanks



(No Model.)

P. D. NICOLS 8v TQW. WEBB. MACHINE FOR TWISTING DRILL BLANKS.

10.24.5341. Ptentea Aug. 16,1881.

N. PETIHS. PhotoLiugognphcr. washington D. C.

UNITED STATES PATENT Ormes..

rAnsHALL'DNicoLs, on snwioKLnY, AND THnononE w. WEBB, or rirrsune,PENNSYLVANIA.

MACHINE FOR TWISTING DRILL-BLANKS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 245,741, dated August16, 1881.

Application filed February 2S, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern Bc it known that we, PARsHALL D. NrcoLs, ofSewickley borough, county of Allegheny, State of Pennsylvania, andTHEODORE W. WEBB, of Pittsburg, county of Allegheny, State ofPennsylvania, have invented or discovered a new and useful Improvementin Machines for Twisting Drill-Blanks, and we do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, concise, and exact description thereof,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of thisspecification, in which-like letters indicating like parts- Figure lshows, in side elevation, our improved machine for twisting drill-blanksand similar articles, the front guide being broken away. Fig. 2 is asectional plan view of the same,the section of the housings being takenin the plane of the line :c x, Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a detached view ofsmall segments of the rolls and a section of the blank, illustrative ofthe bearings of the rolls upon the blank; and Figs. 4 and 5 show, on areduced scale, plain and twisted blanks, in illustration of the workdone by the machine.

This invention relates to mechanism for twisting drill, auger, andsimilarl blanks; and, in general terms, it consists of two disk-rollsadjustably mounted in housings and driven in opposite directions bygear-connections, which rolls have a peripheral bearing upon oppositesides of the blank,`the direction of bearing being inclined across theline of feed in opposite directions, and the planes of the rolls beinginclined in opposite directions to a horizontal plane through the lineof feed; or, in other words, the rolls are inclined in oppositedirections, both to vertical and horizontal planes, through the line offeed, with their centers out of and on the same side of such verticalplane.

In the drawings, A A represent two rolls mounted upon shafts B B',respectively. These shafts have their bearings in journalblocks b b',which latter are secured in vertical openings or slots c, made in thehousings C C', by means 'of adjusting blocks and screws c c2, or byother suitable and well-known means for effecting such end. The housingsC C are, by preference, made with two wings or inclined sides, el d',which are arranged at such angle that the diagonally-opposite innerfaces of the wings shall be parallel or nearly so. These housings may,however, have a curved or other form in horizontal section, such formsbeing common in the art.

The roll-shafts B B are journaled in diagonally-opposite blocks, b bandb b', respectively. Thus the two shafts are crossed between housings,and the planes or peripheries ofthe two rolls are also crossed; also,the journal-bearings in one housing (the left hand one, as shown) areseparated vertically farther than in the other, thereby inclining theshafts and tipping or inclining the planes of thefrolls in oppositedirections to an intermediate horizontal plane; also, the inner faces ofthe blocks b b are beveled, as shown in Fig. 1, presenting a face at orpractically at right angles toV their respective shafts, and collars a.,bearing against such faces, prevent cndwise motion of the shafts. Thedouble inclination thus given to the rolls may be varied as desired bymoving the blocks b b' vertically or laterally within the housings bymeans of the adjusting-screws c' c2, thereby increasing or diminishingthe inclination of the rolls either to a vertical or horizon tal plane,or to both. The purpose of this double inclination will presentlyappear. The rolls are secured on their shafts with their centers in ornearly in the same vertical plane, and the point `c of nearest approachof their peripheries is at one side of the plane of their centers. Theline of feed is through this point c in a horizontal direction,bisecting the acute angles of crossing between the rolls. In order todirect the blank in such line of feed, guides H, having guide-holes 7Linclosing such line, are erected from the base H', on which the housingsare supported. These guides are made adjustable by slotted angle-platesh and binding-screws h2. Two such guides are employed, one on each sideof and close to the rolls, as indicated in Figs. 1 and 2.

A blank, lt, having concave channels or grooves r', made lengthwise inits opposite sides, as illust-rated in Figs. 3 and 4, is fed -throughthe guide-holes hbetween the peripheries of the rolls` with the end frforward and the grooves r above and below, as indicated in Fig. 3. Therolls being rotated in opposite IOO directions by suitable gearing S S,they will take a bite on the blank and feed it forward. In so doing theupper` roll,A, bears downward upon the upper right-hand corner, t', suchbearing extending backward across the blank in the direction of thespiral groove s, Fig. 5; also, the under roll, A', bears upward on thediagonally-opposite under edge, i', of the blank, but extending backwardacross the blank in the direction of the under spiral groove, s s', Fig.5. As the rolls take such bearings the shank end of the blank is heldfrom turning by the workman, and the blank being properly heated, thegrooved part will be twisted by the action of the rolls as they feed itfor- Ward, giving it the form shown in Fig. 5. When the blank has beentwisted in this manner throughout the grooved part of its length themotion of the rolls is reversed, and the workman then letting the blankturn freely, it is run back and out of the rolls with a screw motion.

It will be observed that, owing to the tip of the rolls, their bearingis on the edges e e', which edges are rounded approximately to the curveof the grooves against which they bear, as in Fig. 3; also, that thisbearing is against the sides of the grooves i i opposite thecutting-edges a a; consequently these cuttingedges are kept sharp and inproper form. Also, to provide room for the binding of the edges of theblank, the side edges, e2, of the rolls are beveled off or cut away inconvex or rounded form, corresponding approximately to the curve of thegroove on the cutting edge or side, which in drills is usually madefuller or straightcr than the opposite sides, as shown'in Fig. 3. Bythis means the sides of the blank are held between the opposite edges, ee?, of the rolls, so that the samefdegree of bending and uniform work isat all times secured.

The pitch of the twist given bythe rolls depends upon the angle ofcrossing and angle of inclination to a horizontal plane, and provis--ion is made for adjustingthese angles, as above described, not only toenable the workman to increase and diminish the pitch, when desired, butalso to adjust the rolls and their angles of inclination for operatingupon blanks of different sizes. We prefer, also, to use rolls ofdifferent sizes where the change in size of the blanks is considerable,and in this way the required range of adjustments may be obtained incomparatively small limits.

It has been stated that longitudinal feed motion is given to the blankby the action of the rolls alone, and is due to their rotary motion;also, that the power which twists the blank is imparted through therolls, and is due to theirY rotary motion, in combination with theirpeculiar inclined arrangement. ln these respects our invention differsmaterially from a twisting die or form through which the blank isforced, and also from those machines in 6 5 which a traveling die ortraveling parallel rotary disks running idle on their bearings are usedin combination with a rotation of the blank in a lathe or similarapparatus,the power which twists the blank and rotates the disks beingcommunicated through the blank. In our improved machine the power isapplied through the rolls directly upon that part of the blank to betwisted; consequently much less strain is imposed upon the blank and amore uniform and better product is secured.

Gonical gear-wheels S S, having spirally-arranged cogs, as shown in Fig.2, may be employed for driving the rolls in opposite directions, thebevel and spiral inclination of the cogs being such as to cause them totake a full bearing when in conjunction. Other suitable or desired formsof gearing may be employed, however.

The rolls may be driven from either shaft B or B by any desired means ofapplying power 5 and any suitable or convenient means for reversin gmotion may be employed, as by straight and crossed belts or otherwise.Such appliances being in common use in machinery, they need notrbedescribed particularly.

The blank B. here shown, and the method or means of forming it,constitute the subjectmatter of a separate invention and application forpatent; but, so far as it relates to the pressent invention, such blankmay be formed in any of the ways known in the art,` and instead ofdrill-blanks, auger-blanks and other similar articles may be twisted asherein described. The forms of such blanks and the methods of producingthem are well known'in the art.

We have shown and describedtwo housings, G C', with the shafts B Bcrossed between them in a plane Ynearest the right-hand housing and theline of feed in the central line between housings. These details ofconstruction are not material, however, as the shafts may be crossed.-at other points in their length and the line of feed be shifted thereby,which occurs to a greater or less extent in making the adjustments abovedescribed; also, one housing only may be used with long bearings for theshafts, or the shafts may be set in such relations that the rolls may becarried on their extended ends outside of one or the other of thehousings, as preferred, the rolls having the same relativearrangement,inclination, and operation as herein shown and described.These and similar modiiications in the details of construction weconsider as coming within our invention.

We do not claim as our joint invention rolls or rolling-dies similar tothose herein described, except when such dies have axes of motion whichare doubly inclined with relation to each other, as above described, assimilar rollingdies having axes inclined in one direction, whereby theperipheries of the dies are made to bear obliquely across the line offeed, are the separate invention of one of these appli-V cants, TheodoreW. Webb, and form, in part, the subject-matter of a separate applicationfor patent by him.

IIO

We claim herein as our invention- 1. In a machine for twisting drill andsimilar blanks, the combination of two rolls arranged to take aperipheral bearing on opposite sides of the blank, such rolls beinginclined in opposite directions to both vertical and horizontalplanes-through their line of feed, and gear mechanism for imparting tothe rolls rotary motion in opposite directions, substantially as setforth.

2. Two rolls, A A', arranged to take a peripheral bearing on oppositesides of a blank, the directions of such bearing being inclined acrossthe line of feed in opposite directions, and the rolls bein g inclinedin opposite directions to an intermediate horizontal plane, incombination with guides H on either side of the rolls in the line offeed,'and means for giving to the rolls rotary motion in opposite direc-2o tions, substantially as set forth.

similar blanks, the combination of two rolls, A A', arranged to take aperipheral bearing on opposite sides of the blank, such rolls beinginclined to both vertical and horizontal planes through the line offeed, with their centers out of and on the same side of such verticalplane, and having the bearing-edges c e of their peripheries rounded andthe free edges c2 e2 cut away, as,described, with means for varying theangles of inclination of the rolls, adjustable guides H, and means forgiving the rolls rotary motion in opposite directions, substantially'asand for the purposes set forth.

In testimony whereof We have hereunto set our hands.

Witnesses:

U. L. PARKER, R. H. WHITTLESEY.

